Born as the youngest of 20 children in a sharecropping family in rural Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer endured more hardship as a child than many do in a lifetime. Like countless others trapped by poverty and racism, Hamer would likely have died in virtually the same situation as she was born. But one fateful evening, she attended a meeting about voting rights, and she altered the course of her life.

Hamer became one of the most vocal and eloquent drum majors for justice in the Civil Rights Movement. Despite jail, beatings and brutal verbal attacks, Hamer persisted in the struggle for black rights because of her faith in God. Her story reveals how the Civil Rights Movement was fueled by faith and why current justice movements must also draw on the reservoir of Christian faith to emerge triumphant.

We too often separate the our teaching in the Old Testament from the New. The New is where the story of Jesus begins, so we end up teaching the Old Testament in a moralistic way.

The whole theme of the Bible is Jesus is exalted. Learn how to see Jesus as the hero of every passage; how the Gospel applies in whatever passage we may be teaching.

The church should be on the frontlines of cultural engagement and political advocacy. The Christian witness must be applied to society's most pressing issues. The And Campaign will detail what that looks like and why it's important.

Our culture is in dire need of the Song of Solomon and what it has to say about singleness, sex, sexuality, God, marriage and the gospel.

After all, the Song of Solomon helps provide answers to questions like: Who should I date? What kind of person does God want me to look for and be? How far is too far in dating? How do I rekindle the passion in marriage? What are healthy ways to communicate and resolve conflict? Should I expect love in my marriage to turn into a faint flicker over time?

As important as these questions are, the Song of Solomon can be an intimidating book to read, let alone apply and teach! Its poetic images and ancient near eastern descriptions often get lost on modern ears. This workshop will give life to the poetry for our urban context and provide practical instruction from and interpretive insight into the Song of Solomon in ways that will help with preparing for marriage, counseling, teaching and preaching.

Cities are strategic and under reached places for gospel ministry. The world is on its way to becoming 70 percent urban, and so our need for urban theological vision is greater now than it ever has been.

As we define contextualization and the need for it, come learn and investigate how to practically contextualize the gospel in the dense and diverse cities of North America.

In a world where our cities are getting more and more urban, dense with people and diverse, most of our churches are still homogeneous in nature. The topic gospel and race has become something that has been pushed to headlines.

In light of the past year, and as believers, we have to know how to approach the issue of the gospel and race. Are they to be approached separately or not? How should believers approach this conversation? Come out and see.

The conclusion of the house church track will deal with the anatomy of a biblical and viable model, in which house churches plant other house churches. This happens because in the tight knit community of the house church environment, disciples will be making disciples in true life-on-life relationships. The apostle Paul tells us in the letter to the Ephesians that, as the church, we are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, “for the building up of the body of Christ…” (Eph 4:12).

We will look at how this can happen, both principally and practically. We will cover: leadership structure, leadership development, house church liturgy, church family engagement, community engagement, teaching structure and rotation, core team strategy and multiplication in hopes to fill the city … thus building up the body of Christ.

By definition, expository preaching explains what the text means by what it says, seeking to exhort the hearers to trust and obey the God-intended message of the text.

Only 12 percent of evangelical Christians name the Bible as the most influential source of how they view immigration and immigrants, according to Lifeway Research. The majority are more shaped by politics, economics or media.

However, as Christians, we must view everything through a biblical lens. During this time, we will dive deep into God’s Word and go on a journey through what the Bible says about immigration and immigrants, as well as how to build relationships with them.

Is God calling you into full-time vocational ministry? How do you know if God wants you to be a pastor? How can you discern if God is calling you to plant a church?

We'll look at what the Bible has to say about ministry calling. Come with a prayerful heart to hear from God's Word as we explore what it means to be "called."